An ultrasound imaging apparatus irradiates ultrasound signals toward an object through the surface of the object, detects ultrasound signals reflected from the object, i.e., echo ultrasound signals, and then provides necessary information about an examined part inside the object, such as a tomogram of a soft tissue or bloodstream, by generating an image about the examined part.
The ultrasound imaging apparatus is widely used for medical examination at maternity, cardiology, abdomen, and urology clinics, because it is compact and inexpensive and has noninvasive and non-destructive properties as compared with another type of diagnostic imaging apparatus, e.g., X-ray device, Computerized Tomography (CT) scanner, Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI), and diagnostic nuclear medical apparatuses.
The ultrasound imaging apparatus uses a probe, which is a means for generating ultrasound signals, in order to obtain an ultrasonic image of the object. The probe includes at least one transducer, each transmitting an ultrasound signal toward the object and receiving an echo ultrasound signal from the object. In this regard, beamforming is performed to deal with time differences among echo ultrasound signals received by the transducers. The ultrasound imaging apparatus obtains an ultrasonic image of the object based on the beamformed signals.